Q Someone told me that I shouldn't do my banking on public Wi-Fi. Why is that? Andy, via email

A Many people try to find free Wi-Fi when out and about, myself included, but public Wi-Fi networks have issues, mostly the inherent insecurity in having a network whereby you don't know the intentions of the connected parties and have no control over who can connect. Even if a Wi-Fi network has a password, that doesn't keep you safe from other people on the network. It's very simple for any of them to see what you're doing and, in some cases, steal personal information or passwords. However, you can do something about this. The easiest way to protect yourself would be to use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) to encrypt your connection. The easiest way to do this is to use a service like Cloak, Hotspot Shield, or StrongVPN.